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Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Which is Cheaper?

Which is the cheaper ring? You can decide here - a quiz on Cosmopolitan's website. Or decide on shoes at Seventeen's site. Go to stuff.co.nz and choose between various products at different price points.

Have you wondered if there is anything that isn't for sale? Atlantic Magazine in April 2012 addressed this question:

"THERE ARE SOME THINGS money can’t buy—but these days, not many. Almost everything is up for sale. For example:

• A prison-cell upgrade: $90 a night. In Santa Ana, California, and some other cities, nonviolent offenders can pay for a clean, quiet jail cell, without any non-paying prisoners to disturb them.

• Access to the carpool lane while driving solo: $8. Minneapolis, San Diego, Houston, Seattle, and other cities have sought to ease traffic congestion by letting solo drivers pay to drive in carpool lanes, at rates that vary according to traffic.

• The services of an Indian surrogate mother: $8,000. Western couples seeking surrogates increasingly outsource the job to India, and the price is less than one-third the going rate in the United States."

The article discusses the 'moral' meaning of goods and that some of the good things in life are degraded if turned into commodities.

"This is a debate we didn’t have during the era of market triumphalism. As a result, without quite realizing it—without ever deciding to do so—we drifted from having a market economy to being a market society."

"Even if you agree that we need to grapple with big questions about the morality of markets, you might doubt that our public discourse is up to the task. It’s a legitimate worry. At a time when political argument consists mainly of shouting matches on cable television, partisan vitriol on talk radio, and ideological food fights on the floor of Congress, it’s hard to imagine a reasoned public debate about such controversial moral questions as the right way to value procreation, children, education, health, the environment, citizenship, and other goods. I believe such a debate is possible, but only if we are willing to broaden the terms of our public discourse and grapple more explicitly with competing notions of the good life."

Today's images are banners for the Rotary's Grimsby Fantasy of Trees festival. Forty trees are decorated and raffled off along with donated items with the proceeds going to support local charities.

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About Me

I am a photographer exploring two realms - the magic and wonder of plants, gardens and flowers in the natural world, and the everyday decays in the urban environment which are turned into abstract images.